Saints

                                SAINTS FOR THE SEASON (June, July and August)

   June, July and August - months dedicated to sound Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart, to the

Precious Blood and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; but also holiday months, and what better

escape from crowded beaches than tracking down the local saint? For after almost two thousand

years of Christianity few regions remain without a saint or two.

   My own boyhood holidays were invariably spent in Wales, truly a land of saints. So many

names beginning with 'Llan', each commemorating a church, a monastery or a saint, from

Llandudno in the North, where a tiny chapel of St Tudno is preserved on the shore, to Llantwit-

Major in the South, where St Illtyd in the fifth century, a full hundred years before the arrival of

Augustine, established a great centre of learning from which many of the great Welsh saints and

missionaries emerged. They included St Samson, later abbot of Caldey (a monastic island still)

and one of the greatest missionaries Britain has ever produced. His feastday falls within this

period, on 28th July. Some fifty years later David, patron saint of Wales and himself trained in

Illtyd's monastery, established another great nursery of saints at Mynyw (Menevia, now St

Davids), and his relics are still enshrined in the cathedral there. Pope Callistus II in 1120

decreed that two pilgrimages to David's shrine were equivalent to one to Rome.

   So no need to venture abroad - a prayer once recited regularly at Benediction refers to this as "an

island of saints, illustrious for their glorious merits and virtues". But of course venturing abroad

uncovers thousands of similar opportunities for discovery. I mention only one - and that initially

a missed opportunity and a matter of regret: that when visiting our son-in-law's parents near

Lyon, and having been offered a visit to a village some kilometres to the North, I chose an easier

option. Thankfully the omission was made good a year later. For the village, whose name was

hardly known before 1818, had then become suddenly a place of pilgrimage for thousands - not

to pray beside the tomb of a dead saint, but to visit the confessional of a humble, barely

educated, simple village priest, a former farm hand. That priest is still about his Master's

business, for he is known now as St John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, the patron of parish priests;

and the village of Ars is a shrine to his devotion and to his memory. His feastday is 4th August.

   6th July is the feastday of a saint truly for our own time, Maria Goretti, a child approaching

twelve years old, killed defending her chastity from the persistent advances of a young man of

twenty so incensed by her refusals that he stabbed her repeatedly with a knife. She survived

the stabbing for twenty hours, during which she became a Child of Mary, received the Last

Sacrament and specifically forgave her murderer. Her canonization in the Holy Year, 1950,

was attended by her mother, by her brothers, and by her murderer, and being the first

canonization to be conducted out of doors in the Piazza of St Peter's, by a huge crowd

which included my own wife, Cecilia. The murderer, repentant during twenty-eight years

in prison, lived on well into his eighties as a monastery gardener.

   The Nativity of St John the Baptist on 24th June is the oldest feast in any liturgy to celebrate a

saint, and he and Our Lady are the only saints whose nativity as well as their birthday into glory

is celebrated in the liturgical calendar. Catholic tradition holds that John was sanctified in his

mother's womb, receiving sanctifying grace at the visit of Mary when, as Elizabeth proclaimed,

"The moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy". In former

times the beauty of this feast was on a par with Christmas, with three masses and with two

offices, one celebrating the Old Law and the other the New, as the Baptist provides the bridge

between the two, sent to witness that Christ is "the Chosen One of God". His feast was always

therefore one of great joy, celebrated with bonfires as soon as the sun had set. Martyred as a

consequence of his fearless condemnation of the immorality of the ruling family, the feast of his

Beheading also falls within this period, on 29th August. The Solemnity of Mary's own birthday

into glory, her Assumption into Heaven, is celebrated on 15th August.

   9th June is the feast of St Ephraem the Deacon, baptized at the age of eighteen; a refugee from

persecution, becoming a champion against heresy, and eventually a hermit; leaving his solitude

towards the end of his life to undertake famine relief, and dying within six months of returning

to his cell. On account of his writings, particularly his hymns in honour of Our Lady which

form an important contribution to Catholic dogma, he was declared a Doctor of the Church, and

is known in the Eastern churches as "the Harp of the Holy Spirit". Ephraem concludes his "Life

of Mary the Harlot, Niece of the Hermit Abraham" with a lament for his own condition, and

how better close these notes on the saints than with Ephraem's words, in Helen Waddell's

beautiful translation in The Desert Fathers; words which many of us could surely apply to ourselves:

   "Sorrow on me, beloved, for these fell on sleep, and with all confidence have gone their

ways to God: whose minds were never set upon the business of earth, but on the sole

love of God. And I unapt and reluctant in my will abide, and behold winter hath come

upon me, and the infinite tempest hath found me naked and spoiled and with no

perfecting of good in me.

   "I marvel at myself, beloved, how I daily default, and daily do repent. Behold, those who

received their talent along with me strive day and night to trade with it, that they may

win the word of praise; but I in my sloth hid mine in the earth, and my Lord makes

haste to come; and behold my heart trembles and I weep the days of my negligence and

know not what excuse to bring.

   "Have mercy upon me, Thou that alone art without sin, and save me, who alone art pitiful

and kind: for Thou knowest that I did shun much of evil and the byways of shame, the

vanity of the impertinent and the defence of heresy. And this not of myself, but of Thy

grace wherewith my mind was lit. Wherefore, holy Lord, I beseech Thee, bring me

into Thy kingdom, and deign to bless me with all that have found grace before Thee,

for with Thee is magnificence, adoration and honour, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen."

                                                                                                        Peter Whelan



         SAINTS FOR THE SEASON (March, April, May)

The writer François Mauriac, in his Mémoires Intérieurs, talks of his ability to revisit the novels

he had read from childhood onwards, renewing at will his familiarity with their characters as if

he knew them personally, many of them even as friends, but others more distantly as characters

to be respected or passed by; but their world completely "habitable". The saints are like that.

With some one feels totally at home, as if you could sit comfortably beside them in total

familiarity, or walk with them in the countryside - even with some, running and laughing with

them through the fields.

The difficulty in writing a short piece like this is that so many of this family of friends - for

family is what they are - have to be passed over for lack of space. In this three month period:

Aelred of Rievaulx, friend to all; Aelred's own favourite saint, Cuthbert (although now

celebrated in September), so loved by his companions that they vied with one another to visit

him in his island fastness; Chad under whose parish patronage I spent my own childhood and

youth; Bede patron of my schooling; Abraham the hermit of Edessa and his niece Mary, their

story wonderfully recorded by Ephraim the deacon; Robert founder with our own Stephen

Harding of the Cistercian Order of which Aelred was a member; John of God, in turn shepherd,

soldier, pedlar, before being persuaded by John of Avila to a life caring for the sick and dying,

widows and orphans, the unemployed, poor students and fallen women, now patron saint of

hospitals; John of Avila himself, who drew also to himself by his preaching the great St Teresa

and St Francis Borgia; Louis de Montfort, whose writings include "True Devotion to the Blessed

Virgin"; Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, urged by the eternal Father to offer unceasingly the merits of

Christ's blood, the only worthy offering, in expiation of the Father's wrath at "the iniquities of

mankind, which cry aloud for vengeance with even greater force than the blood of Abel" - an

offering particularly appropriate in this season of Lent; Catherine of Siena, whose feast is

celebrated on 29 April, also with an intense devotion to the merits of Christ's Precious Blood,

urging her disciples to become inebriated with it, and concluding her Dialogues with a prayer to

the "Eternal Blood", and crying to the Divine Mercy: "O divine Folly! was it not sufficient for

you to become incarnate that you must also die for us? And your mercy has done even more

than this, for you have given yourself to be our food"; Gemma Galgani (14 May) who bore, like

Catherine, the marks of the stigmata, sharing with Christ in his suffering until she pleaded:

"Jesus, Jesus, I can bear no more", all the time immersed in ordinary domestic duties within the

family, with an unfulfilled yearning to be a Passionist nun, and declared a saint in 1940;

Benedict Joseph Labré (16 April), another "failed vocation", whose health obliged him to leave

both the Carthusians and the Cistercians, becoming a tramp and a beggar, spending the rest of

his short life on pilgrimage from one European shrine to another, ending his days in a Rome

hostel for the destitute, collapsing on the steps of the church of Santa Maria dei Monti on the

Wednesday of Holy Week, and being buried in that church with great public acclamation on the

Easter Sunday. All of these, and many more, are commemorated in the Calendar of Saints

during this period, although most are only celebrated liturgically in their own localities or

congregations, enabling the liturgy to concentrate properly on the unfolding of the Mystery of

Christ.

March is traditionally dedicated to St Joseph, April to the Holy Spirit, and May to the Blessed

Virgin; and the relationship in these months of the feasts of St Joseph (19 March), the

Annunciation (25 March), and the Visitation (31 May), plays out a drama involving, of course,

all three. Curious to wonder when it was that Joseph discovered Mary to be with child; when

was he brought to the realisation that the child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit - was it

before or after Mary's visit and three months stay with her cousin, Elizabeth? What was the

reason for Mary's journey when young betrothed Jewish girls were not expected to wander away

from home? Was Joseph's initial reaction a factor? Sufficient to know the outcome, which

makes Joseph now the "custos", the guardian, not simply of Mary and of Jesus, but of Christ's

Church, of us. St Teresa of Avila calls St Joseph "my glorious father", writing in her Life: "I do

not remember ever having asked him for anything that he did not grant me. The Lord seems to

have given other saints grace to help in some troubles, but I know by experience that this

glorious saint helps in all. Himself subject to Joseph on earth, so in heaven the Lord does what

he asks."

The saints provide not only an example for our edification, but are concerned for our salvation

as fellow members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Everyone should have their own personal

Litany of the Saints, of those saints whose lives have some particular bearing on their own, who

share their devotions, or with whom they simply feel an affinity. The saints will ensure that it

works both ways.

Peter Whelan

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SAINTS FOR THE SEASON (December, January, February)

With the Word Divine

The Virgin, pregnant,

Comes upon her way,

If you give her lodging.

(St John of the Cross)

Nine months ago, on 31^st March (displaced from 25th March by the early Easter Season), we celebrated the Annunciation, when Mary, just emerged from childhood herself, agreed to become the mother of the Son of God, and the Divine Child was conceived in her by the power of the Most High, the Holy Spirit. Now the Church is in the season of Advent, the quiet final weeks of her pregnancy, awaiting with her the birth of that Holy Child, who "came all so stille where his mother was, as dew in April that falleth on the grass."

Firstly, however, on 8th December, we rejoice in Mary's own Immaculate Conception, immaculate solely for the sake of (and by the merits of) the Holy One to whom she will give birth. And it is on account of her Immaculate Conception that she stands supreme in all creation as "Queen of Angels, Queen of All Saints, Cause of Our Joy" - on account of the great privilege bestowed on her at the moment of her conception.

A further ancient feast, on 17th December, (9 days after the Immaculate Conception - just time for a Novena!), celebrates "The Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary"; that perfect childlike trust that was the consequence of her Immaculate Conception. It is this that constitutes her essential holiness, and it is this that explains Christ's own observation that blessed even above her motherhood is her humility - her total willingness "to hear the word of God and keep it."

But the purpose? That the Word might become flesh, the great joy of Christmas - "...that the Word could take on himself what was ours, and then clothe us with what was his." (St Athanasius). How we rejoice in the birth of a child - but this child! And throughout Advent what preparation we should make, and with what joyful expectation! On Christmas Eve St John of the Cross (whose verse provides the theme for these notes) with his friars would parade a statue of the Virgin from door to door asking for shelter. All would refuse and would then join the procession, until finally, in the Church, the Christ-Child would be placed in the crib. Often John would pick up the child from the manger and dance with it round the chapel, unable to contain his joy.

Sunday 28th December is the feast of The Holy Family, and the Church holds up the love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for each other as the model of the Christian family. This year the feast displaces that of The Holy Innocents, whose families were desolated by the slaughter of their children. So on this day we can perhaps remember too the thousands of families throughout the world, whose lives have been torn apart by war, disease and persecution; and nearer home we can lament the continuing callous disregard of infant life, as “...Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they were no more”. (Mt 2:18).

It is in her Motherhood of Christ our Saviour, that Mary becomes our mother - mother of the whole Christ wherever present - of Christ in glory, and of Christ abiding with us still, Emmanuel; whether present in each of us as members of his mystical body, or in his sacrifice renewed in each Mass, or in his sacramental presence in the tabernacle. In celebrating The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on 1st January, the Church begins the Divine Office with the words: "O wonderful exchange!" - that in taking up our human nature God bestowed on us his divine nature.

The Epiphany of the Lord on 6th January sees the wise men being led in faith to Christ, and offering him their gifts. Christ, appearing to St Mechtilde on this feast presented to her the gold of his Divine Love, the frankincense of his holiness and devotion, and the myrrh of his bitter Passion, that she might offer them back as gifts to him as if they were her own. All that he has is indeed ours.

The final feast of Christ's childhood during this period is The Presentation, on 2nd February. The blessing and carrying of candles on this Candlemas Day celebrates the true light come into the world, and the cry of joy of Simeon, repeated by the Church every evening at Compline, that his request - to see "the light to enlighten the gentiles and give glory to Israel" - had been realised; and his prophecy to Mary that a sword was to pierce her soul.

Many saints are commemorated during these three months, before the commencement of Lent on Ash Wednesday, 25th February. Several were martyrs - Stephen, Sebastian, Agatha, Lucy, Paul Miki, and others - but our theme has been children, and as January is dedicated to The Holy Childhood it would seem particularly appropriate to finish with a young girl, martyred at the age of thirteen.

21st January is the feast of St Agnes, martyred in the fourth century and one of the most revered saints of the Roman Church. Prior to the post-Vatican II Reforms she was venerated by name in the Canon of every Mass, and also had a subsidiary feast, on 28th January, commemorating her appearing to her parents praying at her tomb. Having consecrated herself to Christ, she rejected proposals of marriage and was in consequence denounced as a Christian to the Authorities. Stripped naked for public insult her chastity was wonderfully protected, and she was sentenced to be beheaded. She is regarded as a double martyr - to modesty and to religion, and has been viewed by thousands upon thousands of young women as their patron and model. In the cellars beneath her church of St Agnes in Rome are the remains of the ancient brothel where she suffered humiliation, now preserved as a shrine; while a further church stands over her tomb in the catacomb of St Agnes. In Greek the name Agnes means "Chaste", and in Latin, "Lamb"; and on her feast-day two lambs are blessed in the presence of the Pope, and their wool is used to make the palliums sent by the Pope to archbishops throughout the world as a sign of their pastoral authority. St Agnes is pictured with the sword of her execution in her hand and with a lamb at her feet.

Peter Whelan

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